Big Hair 'Secret'

Right, this is another one for the people with hair that just doesn't 'do' volume.  When I want big hair I use the following:

• A teasing brush and/or a fine-toothed comb.
• Strong or Freeze-hold hairspray
• hair that's not been washed on that day (shiny clean hair just slips straight down)
• AND... THE LATEST THING WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED THAT NO-ONE TOLD ME ABOUT: mattifying root powder.

What's that you say?  POWDER for your HAIR?  Good gracious, woman, we aren't living in the 18th century! To which I reply, STOP BEING SILLY AND TRY THIS MAGIC DEVIL-DUST.  The basic idea is that it gives your roots a bit of texture and more 'grip', allowing greater volume at the roots from which to build.  I first read of this stuff from a post by uber-goth hairdresser Iva Insane, and you can see the results she gets!

Last night I tried such a product for the first time.  Batiste XXL Volume is, as far as I can tell, powder mixed with dry shampoo which gives it a nice convenient spray-in formula and was pretty cheap (around £2), but you can also buy jars of just the powder such as Osis Dust-it or Label M Resurrection Style Dust - I think Schwartzkopf also do a cheaper high-street version in their Got2Be range. (I've not tried any of these.)  Spray in at the roots, scruff it about to distribute (and to make sure you don't have big patches of white powder giving you a 'going grey' look) and notice your hair instantly start standing a bit.  You can leave that as-it and just tousel it a little if it starts to go down later, or you can do what I did last night and continue with normal teasing and hairspray.  The result was MASSIVE and GRAVITY-DEFYING, but wanting to go for a slightly more subtle look I tamed it down to get this (which lasted all night):

I hope this little tip helps.